Disney - Bad Vibe All Around

[HTHBellcaptain]

Originally Posted by Monorail Man

Roy gives up, 2 deaths at WDW, a lackluster 50th party, Teen nearly drowns at WDW, an accident at DCA, Disney loses McDonalds happy-meal deals, fireworks failure.

It's been quite a summer for Disney. Maybe this is some sort of sign of things to come? Or will this stretch of bad vibe end for Disney?

Please forgive me everyone for being a little too much of a Pollyanna, but I think the company may actually be starting to turn around. Granted there is a long way to go to get back to what the company should be, but at least there is a glimmer of hope.

*Roy coming back to the company could be a good thing, not to say that it couldn't be a bad thing either. We just don't have enough information. I lean toward the side of it being a good thing, because Roy is no idiot. For Roy to come back to the company, the company must have made a lot of concession. What these are we won't know until someone writes a book about it in another twenty years or so. We'll see.

*I only know of one death at WDW. That was the one at Mision Space. I don't know of a second one, unless I've just missed it somehow. There was an illness at the Tower of Terror, but last I heard she is still alive. Both the Mission Space and the Tower incidents were not ride related they were health problems that the people didn't know they had. I don't know much about the Mission Space situation, but from what I understand about the one at Tower that could have just as easily happened in her hotel room or while getting on a bus. When you concider that 30 million people go to WDW every year, it's amazing that there aren't more issues like the ones at Mision Space and Tower.

*I didn't see the 50th party. I have heard good things aoubt the way DL looks. I hope they start fixing up the WDW parks the way they did DL. There is some hope of that happening. They recently re-did Small World at WDW. It looks great. I hope they continue to show attention to some of the older attractions.

*I didn't hear about the teen almost drowning at WDW, but that's something that can happen anywhere that there's water. I think the reason these things (Teen almost drowning, child dies after riding Mission Space, teen has anuerism (sp?) after getting off Tower of Terror) make news is because they're on Disney property. It sells newspapers. If someone had drowned in a public swimming pool somewhere in Kansas, we'd never hear about it. But if someone almost drowns at WDW it makes the news.

*I don't know much about the DCA accident on California Screamin'. Poor DL has not had the best of luck when it comes to having those type of incidents. Let's just hope this is the last one.

*I think Disney losing the happy meal deal with McDonalds could be a very good thing in deed. I hope Disney goes back to promotional deals with Burger King. Burger King used to have the best Disney toys. McDonald's toys were a lot less fun. I wish Disney would distance itself from McDonalds. They're the Walmart of fast food. That sort of image isn't really what Disney needs right now.

*I'm not familiar with the fireworks failure. What happened?

I guess my point is that things may not be as bad as we think they are. I know, for myself, I am so used to bad decisions coming out of company headquaters that it's way to easy to assume that everything going bad for the company. But who knows, maybe we're starting to see the beginning of a whole new era for Disney. Here's hoping!!!




If this post was too sickeningly sweet, you may start too induce vomitting now.

[alphabassettgrrl]

I'm a PollyAnna, too. Either that or I'm too stupid to know when something's gone bad.

I plan to be at DL for the meet on the 21st. My coworker and I will likely make a few trips of our own. I can't be there for Bats day, but such is life. I've never spent a *whole* lot of money at Disney, just for basic food and all, so maybe I have less "invested" in some of these issues.

Such as my needs are, DL still fulfills them. Maybe my bar is lower than some other folks'. That's certainly been suggested before. That's fine.

[Morrigoon]

Lindyhop: I agree, the Friday night lessons MADE swing dancing. I learned to dance at DL.

They're fools for losing the food location in that area though, it used to be very popular. They should put in a soda fountain and make money off the crowd that swing can generate (especially when, as you point out, the characters show up)

[Matterhorn Fan]

I agree with HTH. Things seem to be getting better. As long as there's some upward trend, I don't see any reason to complain or be bitter.

[innerSpaceman]

Oh, there's definitely an upward trend. But that's in cosmetics. Safety is another issue entirely. WDW's 4-theme park, 2-water park safety record of excellence simply serves to point out how dismal, and too-often deadly, the safety record of Disneyland is.

With another coaster accident that we hoped had been put behind us, many of the May 4th cosmetic upgrades already in disrepair and suffering from inattention, and a really shameful, lackluster, disappointing 50th birthday celebration - we on the west coast are experiencing an unexpected bout of Disney Blues.

[Monorail Man]

Wow. The bad on-Disney-property deaths continue:
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/12306652.htm

[Not Afraid]

ACK! I don't want to sign up for this paper. Can you give us a snipit?

[Monorail Man]

Alternate Link:
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/loc...a-news-florida

[mousepod]

That's a sad story. I've been thinking a lot about this topic, and I'm wondering how much of this is real and how much is spin. I'm not contesting the facts, it's just that I question how much this is backlash to the media coverage (paid and otherwise) of the 50th. Like last years "Year of The Shark," when shark attack stories dominated the news every night - even though there were no more shark attacks than normal that season, could this be the "Month of Bad Disney Vibes"?

Just a feeling...